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UNETED XSTATAES PATENT Orrtce.

RICHARD F. W. LOPER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,-ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND CHARLES MCKEONE, OF SAME PLACE.

ILLUMINATING-CANDLE.

SPECIFICATION formng part of Letters Patent L lo. 252,590, dated January 17, 1882.

Application filed November 12, 1881.

TO all whom *it mag] concern:

Be it known that l, RICHARD F. W. LOPER, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvelnents iu Illuininating-Oandles; and I do hereby declare that thet'ollowing is a lull,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the acconipanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specfication, in which- Figure 1 is a top View of my improved candle. and Fig. 2 a Vertical section on the line 1) 1) of Fig. 1.

Thisinvention relates to an improvement in the man ufacture of' illuminating-eandles which are especially designed for use on railroads, steamboats, and for other purposes where great illuminating power is desired, combined with portability and safety; and the object of my invention is to practieally employ a broad fiat wick in a candle which is coinposed of any suitable solid h ydrocarbon orinflamm able matter, as will be hereinat'ter explained.

In order that others may avail themselves of' the benefits of my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construct on.

A designates a bro-ad flatt wick, about which is inolded the body B of the candle, which may be coniposed ot' stearine, paraffine. spermaceti, tallow, wax, or of other Suitable hydrocarhon Orin tiannnable substance, or a eombination of either one or more ot' such substances with or without the addition of animal-charcoal.

It is essential to the success of my fiat wick eandle that the body thereot' approximate the form in cross-section of the wicl:--that is to say the Outline of the eandle, when taken in (No model.)

Cross-section, should be flattened or elliptical,

as represented in Fig. 1, the flattened sides 40 corresponding to those of the wick. By this forn] it will he seen that the circumferenee of the body is equidistant, Or nearly so, from the wick when taken in any radial plane. Consequently the substance eomposing the body will be consumed equally, as every part of its outline is equidistant from the plane.

It is obvious that if the body of the Candle were cylindrical, as candles with rounded wicks have hitherto been made, and the wick were flat, 0 the inflammable material would he uneqnally supplied to the flame to support combustion, and it would not be wholly oonsumed.

The fiat wick A will afford a broad fiame, like .that of a Coal-Oil lamp. At the same time the danger attending such lamps is avoided. The form of the body of the eandle maybe slightly varied from that shown in the drawings without departing' from the nature of my in vention, which is the elliptical Or oblo'ng' contour set for-th.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new and improved article of manufae ture, an illuLninating candle colnposed of a fiat wick OI' Core and a flattened Or elliptical body molded or cast about the said flat wick, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that I claim the t'oregoing as my own I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD F. W. LOPER.

Witnesses:

T. H. ALEXANDER, W. C. MCARTHUR. 

